Legal Note
Dear Team,
The E- commerce activities under the LITEKART is governed by the below Acts/Rules and Regulations:
The gist of which are as under:
Please ensure to comply with all the below provisions to avoid legal complications:
1. Consumer Protection (E- Commerce) Rules, 2020:
- The Company shall appoint a nodal person of contact or an alternate senior designated functionary who is resident in India, to ensure compliance with the provisions of the Act or the Rules made thereunder.
- Every e-commerce entity shall provide the following information in a clear and accessible manner on its platform, displayed prominently to its users, namely:-
a. Legal name of the e- commerce entity
b. Principal geographic address of its headquarters and all branches
c. Name and details of its website; and
d. Contact details like e-mail address, fax, landline and mobile numbers of customer care as well as of grievance officer
- No e-commerce entity shall adopt any unfair trade practice, whether in the course of business on its platform or otherwise
- Every e-commerce entity shall establish an adequate grievance redressal mechanism having regard to the number of grievances ordinarily received by such entity from India, and shall appoint a grievance officer for consumer grievance redressal, and shall display the name, contact details, and designation of such officer on its platform.
- No e- commerce entity shall impose cancellation charges on consumers cancelling after confirming purchase unless similar charges are borne by the e- commerce entity, if they cancel the purchase order unilaterally for any reason.
- Every e-commerce entity shall effect all payments towards accepted refund requests of the consumers as prescribed by the Reserve Bank of India or any other competent authority under any law for the time
being in force, within a reasonable period of time, or as prescribed under applicable laws.
No e-commerce entity shall—
(a) manipulate the price of the goods or services offered on its platform in such a manner as to gain unreasonable profit by imposing on consumers any unjustified price having regard to the prevailing market conditions, the essential nature of the good or service, any extraordinary circumstances under which the good or service is offered, and any other relevant consideration in determining whether the price charged is justified;
(b) discriminate between consumers of the same class or make any arbitrary classification of consumers affecting their rights under the Act.
Being an inventory e-commerce we have to ensure the below points also:
Duties and liabilities of inventory e-commerce entities: –
(1) Every inventory e-commerce entity shall provide the following information in a clear and accessible manner, displayed prominently to its users:
(a) accurate information related to return, refund, exchange, warranty and guarantee, delivery and shipment, cost of return shipping, mode of payments, grievance redressal mechanism, and any other similar information which may be required by consumers to make informed decisions;
(b) all mandatory notices and information required by applicable laws;
(c) information on available payment methods, the security of those payment methods, the procedure to cancel regular payments under those methods, any fees or charges payable by users, charge back options, if any, and the contact information of the relevant payment service provider;
(d) all contractual information required to be disclosed by law;
(e) total price in single figure of any good or service along with the breakup price for the good or service, showing all the compulsory and voluntary charges, such as delivery charges, postage and handling charges, conveyance charges and the applicable tax; and
(f) a ticket number for each complaint lodged, through which the consumer can track the status of their complaint.
(2) No inventory e-commerce entity shall falsely represent itself as a consumer and post reviews about goods and services or misrepresent the quality or the features of any goods or services.
(3) Every inventory e-commerce entity shall ensure that the advertisements for marketing of goods or services are consistent with the actual characteristics, access and usage conditions of such goods or
services;
(4) No inventory e-commerce entity shall refuse to take back goods, or withdraw or discontinue services purchased or agreed to be purchased, or refuse to refund consideration, if paid, if such goods or services are defective, deficient spurious, or if the goods or services are not of the characteristics or features as advertised or as agreed to, or if such goods or services are delivered late from the stated delivery schedule:
Provided that in the case of late delivery, this sub rule shall not apply if such late delivery was due to force majeure.
(5) Any inventory e-commerce entity which explicitly or implicitly vouches for the authenticity of the goods or services sold by it, or guarantees that such goods or services are authentic, shall bear appropriate liability in any action related to the authenticity of such good or service.
2. FOOD SAFETY AND STANDARS ACT ON E-COMMERCE:-
- E-commerce FBO shall ensure that the last mile delivery is undertaken by trained delivery personnel and the safety of food product is not compromised at the time of delivery.
- Shall ensure that legible and clear picture of the ‘Principal Display Panel’ of pre- packed food is made available for viewing by the customers. The PDP excluding batch number/lot number, best before, expiry date and MRP shall be displayed.
- The FBO on the ecommerce platform shall be required to display their license/registration obtained under the FSS Act and Regulations.
- Mandatory Food information mentioned in the FSS Act, Rules and Regulations made thereunder shall be provided to the consumers without charging supplementary costs. The relevant mandatory food information should also be available before the purchase is concluded.
